What should I do with my life? isn't just a productivity issue: It's a moral imperative.

I agree. When I was an undergrad it was my intention to double major in math and physics, my two first loves. My mom and the girl I was dating at the time convinced me that I would never make a dime off that choice and that I should switch to engineering. So I got my degree in ME...and I hated engineering. One the upside, I came out of school with a $53k starting salary, which was awesome, but I loathed the job. So I quit and went back to school to become a scientist, which is what I dreamed about since I was a little kid (my Grandpa was a rocket scientist in the early days of rocketry, working on Vanguard and later Mercury and and I always looked up to him). In the grad years I made shit cash, and I still don't make that much, but I love going to work every day. I don't really see it as a job so much as just going and playing in the sandbox day in and day out. The point is that what anyone should do with their life is find something that makes them happy and figure out a way to monetize it, even just enough to eat. If you love going to work, you will always be happy, even with debt, or relationship troubles, or whatever else life hurls at you.